The present invention comprises a new and distinct cultivar of Geranium, botanically known as Pelargonium hortorum Bailey. The new cultivar is propagated from a seedling resulting from the cross of a seed parent Disco (U.S. Plant Pat. No. 5,930) and the pollen parent Blues (U.S. Plant Pat. No. 5,373).
American Rose is a product of a planned breeding program intended to create new geranium cultivars with rose colored flowers with a distinct deeper colored rose red spot at the base of each petal, semi-double flower form, green foliage, vigorous growth and superior cutting productivity.
The new cultivar was created in 1988 in Gilroy, Calif. and has been repeatedly asexually reproduced by cuttings in Gilroy, Calif. and Guatemala over a two year period. It has also been trialed at Okemos, Mi. It has been found to retain its distinctive characteristics through successive propagations; and this novelty appears to be firmly fixed.